Television.

Lifeboat

After Battling Cancer, Robert Urich's New Starring Role Boosts His Confidence

November 23, 1998|By Allan Johnson, Tribune Staff Writer.

On this day, Robert Urich is a model of cool, natural confidence and quiet, but strong, dignity.

And why not? After all, this is the man behind such enduring, masculine television heroes as the freewheeling Las Vegas private detective Dan Tanna of "Vega$" and the tough-but-sensitive Boston private eye in "Spenser: For Hire."

And if his latest character, Capt. Jim Kennedy of UPN's revival of "The Love Boat," isn't drawn along the lines of Spenser, Urich's most indelible character, Kennedy does possess the swagger of an ex-Naval officer.

And yet, in between sips of herbal tea, Urich talks of bouts of uncertainty and doubts about a career that holds the record of more leading TV roles than any other actor, with "Love Boat" being his 14th.

"I was beginning to feel nobody wanted me," says Urich, who celebrates his 52nd birthday in less than a month.

Urich links those fears to his battle with a rare form of soft-tissue cancer called synovil cell carcinoma. Urich is healthy now (he's even sporting a little paunch around the middle), and his head is once again full of hair which chemotherapy had taken from him.

Urich was fit and ready for work. But he says that aside from a few projects, it seemed Hollywood questioned his fitness to handle 12-hour (at least) shooting days, among other acting rigors.

His paranoia really surfaced when "The Lazarus Man," the western he was working on for Turner Television in 1996, was canceled soon after he became ill. He told Turner executives he could continue with the series (his doctors said he could work while undergoing chemo), but the show was axed anyway. Urich always thought his illness was the reason.

"I've always felt like I was this guy that could do anything you asked," explains Urich. "I could take the load on my shoulders, like (former Washington Redskins running back) John Riggins. I could get that extra five yards. I might be a little bloodied, but I could handle it."

But after the "Lazarus" experience, "I was feeling that I had let people down; my family, that crew," he says.

Urich hosted Fox's "When Animals Attack" special later in '96, which has spawned a cottage industry of low-brow, video-fueled specials for the network. "I didn't want to do that," Urich says now, but he had medical bills to pay.

Urich, who got his acting start in 1970 while working as an account executive for WGN-Ch. 9, last year hosted a medical reality series--bald--for ABC called "Vital Signs." But it was canceled after only a handful of episodes.

And that is how he got a job working for his old "Vega$" producer on "Love Boat: The Next Wave" (Fridays at 8 p.m. on WPWR-Ch. 50). Urich is grateful to Spelling, who he says was one of a precious few willing to take a chance on him.

Urich knows the rap against the show, which has dogged it since it ran on ABC from 1977-86. "When people think `Love Boat,' it's for actors who are either on their way up or on their way down," he says.

But Urich says ratings have risen slowly but surely; the show sometimes beat NBC's highly-touted "Trinity," which has since been canceled; UPN ordered additional scripts; and the show has been sold for airing in several other countries.

"I'm having fun, I feel fine, there's a lot of potential in this cast," Urich says. He adds the ensemble (which includes Phil Morris, whose father, the late Greg Morris, worked with Urich on "Vega$") is so strong that, unlike the previous incarnation's reliance on celebrity guests, this version may lean more toward stories revolving around just the main characters.

Urich admits one of the reasons for his paranoia about show business could be because surviving cancer has a way of making you feel unsure of your capabilities. Escaping the deadly illness' grasp is one of the issues Urich now discusses during speaking engagements.

Urich talks to various groups about three times a month, with crowds ranging from 400 to as many as 5,000.

Urich says just being on television again can be inspirational for those who have gone through what he has.

"If people see that I'm healthy and working again," he says "it can give them hope."

- Where's the remote: Pay no attention to your television listings. NBC, looking to make some gains during this tight November sweeps ratings period, airs the Sandra Bullock romantic comedy "While You Were Sleeping" Monday at 7 p.m. on WMAQ-Ch. 5. It replaces the poor-performing "Suddenly Susan," "Conrad Bloom," "Caroline in the City" and "Will & Grace."